In the nineteen-sixties, a number of downtown choreographers found themselves weary of the emotionalism of modern dance: all those women flinging themselves around in great swaths of fabric and looking tragic. The leading proponent of this position, or the one who immortalized it, was Yvonne Rainer, a founding member of the Judson Dance Theatre and Grand Union collectives. In 1966, Rainer premièred a dance called “Trio A,” which attempted to dispense with expression altogether. It did not depict anything; it did not narrate anything. All it was, or hoped to be, was a series of movements. (Now we kneel, now we hop, now we stick our chins out, etc.) Nothing developed into anything else. Above all, nothing was given more emphasis than anything else.

Of course, in the end, the piece, by refusing to express anything, came off as extremely expressive—of an anti-expressionist position. Never mind. It had a nice, cleansing effect on the field, and thereby helped modern dance become postmodern dance. Indeed, it was a sort of theme song of that transition. First done as a trio (by Rainer and her colleagues David Gordon and Steve Paxton), it was later given as a solo, as a duet, as a group piece. Originally, it was performed to Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour.” On some later occasions, it had a spoken text. Often it was danced in silence.

The dancers usually wore street clothes, but that could vary, too. In 1966, Stephen Radich, a New York gallery owner, exhibited some works that used the American flag in ways that condemned the Vietnam War. (In one, the flag, stuffed to resemble a penis, was hung on a seven-foot cross.) Radich was arrested and eventually convicted of desecrating the flag. In protest, a People’s Flag Show was organized in Greenwich Village, in 1970. Rainer contributed what she called “Trio A with Flags,” in which she and five other dancers performed the now famous piece wearing nothing but five-foot-long U.S. flags, tied to their necks like lobster bibs.

Radich’s conviction was ultimately thrown out, but the history of “Trio A with Flags” did not end there. In 2015, the choreographer Stephen Petronio launched his company’s “Bloodlines” project, whereby his shows would include dances not just by him but also by his postmodern predecessors. This year, for his company’s season, March 28-April 2, at the Joyce, he will feature works by Steve Paxton, Anna Halprin, and also Rainer, including “Trio A with Flags.” Asked why he chose the flag piece, Petronio answered that he made the decision months ago, to celebrate what he was sure would be Hillary Clinton’s election as President. “Then,” he said, “the world changed.” Once it did, he figured, as Rainer had a half century before, that “Trio A with Flags” would make a nice act of defiance. The flag-clad version is actually not a good way to see the choreography of “Trio A.” The flags block your view of the movement, and so does the nudity, because it’s distracting. But the Petronio company will perform the five-minute dance twice in a row, first with flags, then with clothes (and Wilson Pickett). ♦